For a fact: Using helmets decreases the risk and severity of injuries by about 72%; decreases the likelihood of death by up to 39%, with the probability depending on the speed of the motorcycle involved; and decreases the costs of health care associated with crashes (WHO, 2006).

We’re putting our foot into it…um…talking about it again..trying to ask perhaps, the question of the year.

On a rainy Thursday morning of 12^th May 2016, I found myself jumping onto a Boda Boda (commercial motorcycle) from Kampala to Entebbe Airport before heading to Nicaragua via Juba. It’s a pizza of a mission sandwiched between my education and work struggles. Had I not used the Boda Boda, I’d have missed the flight as public transport on Entebbe road was slimmed: You know Mr Museveni was swearing in as president yet again since 1986.  Eish…see, I’m not a virgin at using Boda Bodas to know that a typical commercial motorcyclist holds casual conversations particularly when the passenger initiates the small talk.

In the thick of the ride,

“How do you manage to use your helmet, buddy”, I managed to ask him.
He replied, with calmness “My wife likes it”.

Holy cow!…man, that wasn’t even close to what I’d anticipated. This response made my brain to jolt from Cairo to Capetown, Malabo to Mombasa all in 3 seconds. I froze before composing myself to remember that my reproductive health experience wasn’t a wastage afterall. Male condoms are known as ‘helmets’ especially among the ‘forever young’ urban generation in Uganda. Truth be told, I took a second eye to my rider noting he couldn’t possibly put himself in the ‘youth’ bracket. With a loud laughter, I burst out responding ‘Ssebo (local for ‘sir’), I’m not talking about condoms.

Surprised he was upon the mention of the word and calmed my now overdrive of anxiety, pointing to his clean black helmet:

“Mutabani (local for ‘son’), I’m talking about this helmet not condoms. You young generation may not understand it now, but it’s not muscles, hanging jeans or the long fake hair that make you attractive. I have been doing this (Boda Boda business) for 14 years now, but I have never taken a passenger who comes along with his helmet. At the first instant, I thought you weren’t Ugandan after all.” I wasn’t interested in this seemingly great trend of the discussion, so I applied inferential reasoning, probing:

“Wait, about your wife, why does she like the helmet?”, I managed to say.

He responded with what looked like a 100% degree of confidence “My wife likes me to be safe. She tells me that knowing that I’m safety conscious was number 1 reason she chose me”. He continued reassuringly “If a man or woman is self conscious, they are serious with their lives. They want to live life up to their fullest. They are reliable and trust worthy. Is there anything more attractive in a man or a woman than that? There’s nothing attractive than a young woman who carries and uses her helmet”.

I was thunderstruck! This man deserves a hero’s award! Who’s sexier? With or Without Helmet?

Today’s generation of young people is the largest ever in our history. Over 3 billion people – nearly half of the world’s population – are under the age of 25. Of these young people, more than 1000 die every day on the world’s roads. Tens of thousands more are injured. Road traffic injuries have been the leading killer of young people worldwide for over a decade, so why are youth so often not included in preventing these tragedies?

Young people have a right to be adequately informed, consulted and empowered on road safety. YOURS believes that youth themselves have a vital role to help save lives on the world’s roads.  After all, this is the biggest threat to their lives. Young people can do so much to contribute. Is there any group better placed to act as role models, lead peer education, raise awareness, mobilize communities and advocate for change. YOURS has seen this first hand; we trained a second cohort of fifteen youth advocates and peer-educators on road safety in Belize. Together with the first cohort they have already reached over 2000 young people face-to-face with interactive youth workshops, and hundreds of thousands via their campaigns. We are very excited to continue our work with the Caribbean Development Bank and the Government of Belize over the coming years.

In addition, with the help of our regional coordinators, we selected the first national youth champions in Africa and the Caribbean. I welcome them to the YOURS family and I hope for a fruitful collaboration over the coming years.

2015 was also the year that YOURS received the Social Award for Best Road Safety Initiative out of the hands of Her Majesty Queen Sofía of Spain. We won this award for our unique youth capacity development programme. We thank the Mapfre Foundation for organizing these illustrious Awards. This prestigious award serves as an enormous inspiration and it is an important recognition for the involvement of youth in road safety.

We have a massive challenge ahead of us, which also presents exciting opportunities. For over two years, we have been leading a youth push for a road safety target within the Global Goals. And now the world has five years to deliver the most ambitious safety target ever set: to halve road deaths and injuries globally. We need a revolution for action on road safety. Surely we must look to young people to lead and energize this revolution.

In conclusion I would like to thank all partners for their support. Let’s continue to unleash the power of youth together. No more delay, and no more excuses. Let’s build a better future for all of our young people, for all of us and for the generations to come.